Steve Clarke might have solved his quandary over where to play Kieran Tierney in his Scotland starting line-up but no sooner has one elephant left the room than another has come barging through the front door.
The gap in quality between Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson and his Arsenal counterpart might be fag-paper thin but there is little doubt, certainly on current form, about the identity of Clarke's best box-to-box midfielder. Step forward Scott McTominay.
The Manchester United midfielder scored his third goal in three games to knock West Ham out of the FA Cup on Tuesday night and take his personal tally to a career-best seven for the season.
The regularity with which the 24-year-old times his arrivals would put the Dutch railways to shame; his gallops from deep positions have added a dimension to his game that had hitherto not been seen. In a Scotland team short on goals – they have scored just three in five international matches – it would seem an oversight to persist with McTominay in the centre-back role he occupied for the latter part of Euro 2020 qualifying.
At club level, the tall, sentry-like McTominay had been cast as a defensive midfielder who provided a layer of security in front of the United back four but the addition of his driving runs and shooting accuracy from distance have been as much of a feature of United's title challenge under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as the pinpoint accuracy of Bruno Fernandes's set-piece delivery or his radar-like awareness of the opposition's goal.
For one Scot who donned the famous red jersey, McTominay's strides forward are both literal and figurative.
“He is a different player altogether from last season,” says Graeme Hogg, the Aberdonian centre-back who played more than 100 games for United in the 1980s. “He is probably the most-improved player in the Premier League. The sky's the limit for him. If you establish yourself at Man United as one of the main men there, the world is your oyster, you have got everything. I think he is in the position now for him to go and do that.”
McTominay's progress leaves Clarke with a decision to make about who he starts at centre-half at this summer's European Championship finals. Hogg says there is no need for him to think too hard about it when asked whether the Scotland manager should persist with McTominay in a back three.
“I can't see that happening,” says Hogg. “He's not a centre-back. He's got to play him in midfield. The way he's playing he's first pick in centre midfield. He's got to be. I mean if the worst comes to the worst you play Liam Cooper, don't you?”
Hogg, who once man-marked Diego Maradona out of a European Cup Winners Cup quarter-final against Barcelona in 1984, says McTominay has become an indispensable member of Solskjaer's starting line-up, more so than some much-vaunted names.
“Everyone goes on about Paul Pogba. Out of the two of them, if they lost McTominay for a period of time and you lost Pogba for a good length of time, I know the one I would be wanting back in the side. Pogba's got great quality, great ability, but it's when it suits him. You can't rely on him. Man United's been going great. He came back into the side and scored a wonder goal against Fulham and it's great and everything's rosy in the garden and he wants to pop it about. It's when the chips are down, when you're maybe getting beaten, Sheffield United are beating you, Brighton are having a go at you and their sleeves are rolled up – where is he? You don't see him. Everything I have said there [is the opposite with McTominay]. McTominay rolls his sleeves up and gets stuck in. When the going gets tough, he doesn't go missing and that's the difference. He's not got the ability and quality of Pogba but I know that I would have him in my team before him. You can rely on him.”
At United, Hogg played alongside Bryan Robson, then captain for club and country. Robson had arrived at Old Trafford from West Brom in 1981 with a reputation for scoring goals from midfield. Playing in a better team, he improved that output and registered one every four games. While McTominay's inspired form is a recent phenomenon he sees similarities in his game with those of the United legend.
“He kind of mirrors Robson,” says Hogg, who also played for Portsmouth, Hearts, Notts County and Brentford. “He has got the same battling qualities. There's nothing to say that he can't – maybe not get to the level of Robson – but he could probably get quite close to him. The way he is playing he is one of the best in Europe. A good part of that is because his confidence is sky high and he sees himself as part of the plans.”
Jose Mourinho is credited with giving McTominay his debut during his time as United manager but there is a sense, perhaps, that his pragmatic style rubbed off on his young midfielder a little too much. Hogg says Solskjaer deserves plaudits for releasing the handbrake.
“He would drop back, get the ball off [Harry] Maguire or [Victor] Lindelof, spin it off to the left, off to the right. Maybe a wee ball forward slightly over the halfway line and then back to the 18-yard box. Now, he is progressing to the last third and he's hurting people. Good luck to him. He's got the license to do that and it is Solskjaer that has done that, he's seen something and thought 'wait a minute, this lad can play further up the pitch, let's go and see if he can hurt people'. He's a joy to watch just now with Man Utd when he's playing.”
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